150 BEWICK’S WREN. 
becoming great benefactors to the gardener, horticulturist, and farmer. The greatest 
portion of their inseé&t food is captured on or near the ground. 
Like the Carolina Wren the subject of the present sketch is not strictly migratory. 
In the Southern States it is stationary; but in its northern habitat it migrates 
southward as soon as the first cold waves sweep over the country. Even in south- 
western Texas, I observed that in most cases it moved farther south, not returning 
before the 1st of March. Probably all the summer residents migrated southward, while 
their places were taken by birds coming from the North. In southern Missouri I have 
nevér seen one of these birds between November 15 and March 15. 
During the summer Bewick’s Wren ranges from the Gulf of Mexico to southern 
Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Mr. Ridgway says that in southern Illinois 
as far north as latitude 38° 20’ 20” , this Wren is the most abundant of its family. 
Mr. William Brewster, in his excellent paper on the birds of Western North Carolina 
(The Auk. Vol. II, 1886, p. 176), states that the Carolina Wren inhabits the valleys 
of the mountains, and the Winter Wren the lonely forests of balsams from 5000 to 
6000 feet, while Bewick’s Wren makes the intermediate space its home. In Asheville it 
was breeding in such numbers that nearly every shed or other out-building harbored a 
pair. Dr. Gerhardt met with this species among the mountainous portions of northern 
Georgia. Near the Atlantic, and in Florida, it is evidently absent. Prof. W. W. Cooke 
says, in his valuable book, “Bird Migration in the Mississippi Valley” (Washington: 
Government Printing Office. 1888): ‘‘The distribution of this species over the Missis- 
sippi valley is very singular. Abundant in some places and rarely or never seen in 
contiguous territory, it seems to be governed by fancy in the choice of a dwelling 
place.” 
In western Kansas and Texas to Arizona, north to southern Utah and Colorado, 
south to the table lands of. Mexico, the true species is replaced by a variety known to 
the ornithologists as Bairp’s WrEN, Thryothorus bewickii bairdii SaLviIn & Gop. 
Another variety, Vicor’s WREN, T. bewickii spilurus BairD, inhabits the Pacific 
coast, north to British Columbia, south to Lower California and western Mexico. In 
color it is similiar to the species, but the bill is considerably larger. In California 
it inhabits, according to Dr. Cooper, the dense forests as well as the open groves. In 
Washington this variety and the Winter Wren are among the few birds that enliven 
the long rainy season with their songs which are constantly heard in the dullest 
weather as in the sunny spring. In those mild coast regions it seems to be resident 
throughout the year. 
NAMES: Bewick’s Wren, Southern House Wren, Long-tailed House Wren, Song Wren. —Sanger-Schliipfer 
(German). 
SCIENTIFIC NAMES: Troglodytes bewickii Aud. (18381), Nutt. THRYOTHORUS BEWICKI Bairp 
(1858). Telmatodytes bewickii Cab. (1850). 
DESCRIPTION: Sexes alike. Above, uniform dark rufous-brown. Below, ashy-white. Quills, obsoletely 
waved with dusky; two middle tail-feathers, closely and regularly barred with ashy-brown and black, 
A whitish superciliary stripe. 
Length, 5.50 inches; wings, 2.25; tail, 2.50 inches. 
